Intellectual property law is good. Excess in intellectual property law is not. This blog is about excess in Canadian and international copyright law, trademarks law and patent law. I practice IP law with Macera & Jarzyna, LLP in Ottawa, Canada. I've also been in government and academe. My views are purely personal and don't necessarily reflect those of my firm or any of its clients. Nothing on this blog should be taken as legal advice.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

On Canadian Copyright Term Extension – Out of the Mouths of Artists?

Music
Canada (which represents mainly the “big
three” foreign owned Sony, Universal and Warner record company groups) and
which ought to know a thing or two about copyright law has issued an amazing
quick and very misleading press releaseand assembled an even more amazingly quick
list of its quotes on its websiteand following
#Budget2015. Music Canada quotes Canada’s iconic and beloved Leonard Cohen as
follows:

Leonard Cohenreinforces the
urgency of the problem, "In just a few short years, songs we
recorded in the late 1960s will no longer have copyright protection in Canada.
Many of us in our 70's and 80's depend on income from these
songs for our livelihood. We would deeply appreciate any
adjustment that would avert a financial disaster in our lives."

(emphasis added)

The fact is that Canadian law already protects the “songs”
that Cohen wrote for the life of the author plus 50 years. So, he and his
estate will be earning lots of well-deserved royalties from Suzanne, Hallelujah, Bird on Wire, etc.
for a very long time. In cases where there is joint authorship (typically a
composer and lyricist), the term for an
estate can be even longer because it lasts for fifty years form the death of
the survivor in such case.

The extension of the copyright term announced in
yesterday’s budget may possibly put some extra cash in Cohen’s pocket from his
performances, but the overwhelming
evidence is that this extension will mainly benefit his record companies.
And SOCAN will fight hard to ensure that any extra money from this measure does
not “derogate” from what it views as its protected share of the copyright “pie” –
which is not capable of indefinite growth in size. Another long saga will be in store at the Copyright Board.

SOCAN, which collects royalties for performances
of the songs in contrast to the performances and sound recordings, has - to its great credit - gone to
great length over the years to protect actual creators – without whom there
would be no songs – from giving away or selling their song copyrights for peanuts.
They cannot get less than a 50% share. The record companies have tried to erode
that sacred principle through cutting back on the artists’ mechanical
royalties through controlled composition clauses.

But, if Cohen wrote the words and the music, he should
get a 50% share of the SOCAN royalties no matter what deal he may have made
with his managers, publishers or record companies. That is, at least, how the
system is supposed to work.

Music Canada really ought to know better. If
Leonard Cohen actually said the above, someone should have explained things to
him. If not, Music Canada has some explaining to do.

It’s amazing how Music Canada managed to assemble all
of these explicit, even if sometimes inaccurate, quotes
on such a technical subject matter on such short notice from such often inaccessible
artists.As is normally the case with a “Budget”
announcement, we lesser mortals were completely surprised. I think I posted the first tweet on this at 4:40 PM yesterday,
right after the #Budget2015 went online.